


Warming up to it.

by PeanuutFlower



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Keith and Lance are being dorks, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Stranded, The heat can be dangerous, What to tag though ...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 11:02:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11274111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeanuutFlower/pseuds/PeanuutFlower
Summary: Keith and Lance are stranded in the desertic region of an unknown planet.





	Warming up to it.

**Author's Note:**

> _Me : Hey, I'd really like to add a little more to that little short Klance story I started, though I'd like to keep it simple, a really short thing, like a snippet. One page. One page is good._
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Also me : *writes 6 pages*
> 
> What the heck.

Hot. Everything was hot. The air was hot, the ground was hot, he was feeling hot. Then again, they were in a hot desert.

Lance was sweaty, thirsty, and they still hadn't found the others. Or maybe it was the other way around. He didn't know. He didn't want to know, didn't want to think. He felt like he was melting, cooking up under the twin suns of that cursed planet.

Why didn't they crash-land next to an ocean, or a another body of water ? At least they could have gotten something good out of that situation.

 

* * *

 

Their lions had crashed with the others not long ago, after a blast from an unknown source had sent them off course. Lance had woken up later and had found Blue wasn't responding and was incredibly hot inside, so he quickly went out. Ahead of him, he had seen the Red lion on the ground. He went to check on it and found that Keith was trying to use the communication devices of their suits and contact the other paladins, to no avail. Lance sneaked up behind him and startled him, which granted him a sword to the neck.

After being scolded by the red paladin, he tried to use his own helmet to call the others, but wasn't in more luck than Keith.

Standing in the middle of nowhere and heating up in the desertic region of an unknown planet, they tried to think of what to do.

“I say we stay there and wait for our lions to activate again.” Keith said.

“Are you crazy ? That could take hours !” Lance argued.

“You got a better idea ? We're lost, if we get away from our lions, we're as good as dead.”

“Well, we'll die if we stay there either way !”He retorted. “I say we get out of there and try to find the others, as well as shelter.”

“Shelter ? In this place ?” Keith pointed out. “We'd better stay in the lions then.”

“The lions are turning into giant ovens right now, but if you want to stay there, be my guest. I'll go off to find proper shelter by myself.”

With that said, he had started to walk at a determined pace for a while, before the heat of the desert and the fact he had strictly no idea where to go hit him hard. As he turned around, he saw that the lions couldn't be seen anymore, and that most of his steps had already disappeared, covered up by the moving sand. He was alone.

As he was about to panick, when he heard a chuckle coming from his side. Turning around, he glared at the red paladin, who shrugged innocently. They both looked around them, before Keith sighed.

“Great. We're lost. What a master plan, Lance.”

“Hey ! Yours wasn't any better, you know ?” He protested. “And I thought I told you, you didn't have to follow me.”

“As if I was going to let you wander off on your own like that !”

“What, were you scared of being left all alone ?” Lance teased him, pleased with himself.

However, when he saw the other boy's face, his teasing smile faded, and he took a more serious stance.

“Sorry, I didn't think and-” He said, embarassed.

“It's okay, just, try not to do that again.” Keith said as he walked past him. “So, let's find shelter, as you said, before we get killed by the heat.”

“Aw, come on.” Lance said, getting his playful tone back. “Is the red paladin scared of a little heat ?”

“Pff, no.” Keith answered defensively. “I used to live in a desert, remember ?” Granted, it wasn't as hot as this one, but it was true nonetheless.

“We'll see about that.” Lance winked, pointing proudly to the apparent skin on his face. "As for me, I'm not scared because I've got a natural advantage.”

“Melanin ?” Keith asked, dumbfounded.

“Yup.”

“Melanin does nothing against the heat, you know … only sunrays.” Keith explained, looking at Lance with a smirk.

“Uh ...” Lance pondered over it. “Well at least I'll keep my vitamins longer than you will.”

Keith shook his head and rolled his eyes at that last statement, and kept on walking alongside his teammate, looking at their surroundings.

 

* * *

 

And now, here they were. They didn't know how long it had been and their suits were starting to give them a hard time, but they only took off their helmets from time to time. Lance was the one in front, so he had to check on Keith now and then. It was weird, being all alone with Keith, lost in the middle of a desert. They were seldom on their own together, and he may or may not have gathered unecessary feelings from all those months he spent with him and the others fighting the Galra. So he was glad the heat was already reddening his cheeks, because he wasn't sure how he would react if something awkward happened between them.

As time went by, he decided to check on Keith once again, as he was feeling a little tired and gross himself.

“You're still going ?” He asked him, looking at a suspiciously cave-shaped hole, only to realize it was a shadow.

“Y-yeah ...” Keith said, panting. “But I'm … I'm not feeling well.”

“How so ?” Lance asked again, concerned.

“I have … my head hurts. And the ground … is the ground moving ? I mean, really moving. Not just the sand.” Keith asked, his voice strained.

Lance stopped walking and turned around, going to check on him. He tried to take his temperature by placing the palm of his hand on his forehead, yelping in disgust as he felt the sweat, which made the red paladin yell at him to deal with it.

Keith was burning up, and that wasn't a good sign. Lance started to frantically search for shelter, shadows, water, anything. Keith zoned out sometimes, asking him about what they were doing, where they were, where the others were, and so on. He was starting to get more and more dizzy as time went on, and the blue paladin was beginning to worry.

After some time, Lance sighed with relief. Finally. He had found an rocky terrain in the middle of all this sand, and it had holes. He grabbed Keith by the arm and made him sit in one of them, one of the largest he could find. Keith breathed in and out, and sighed in relief. Lance checked on him and found he was even warmer than before. He asked him about his name, his age, anything that was basic knowledge to Keith. He stopped worrying when his teammate was able to answer all those correctly, albeit with a slight delay.

“Alright. You're still there, but you're way too warm for my liking. I'll let you stay there while I go look for water. You got that ?” He informed him.

“Yeah.”

“Good. Now, I know it's gonna sound weird but … could you strip down ?” He asked hesitantly.

Keith gave him a look, and went a few inches away from Lance, blushing a bit.

“What ? Why ?”

“Look, it's got nothing to do with the fact I- I mean … “Lance stuttered, mentally slapping himself for almost giving away critical information. “It's to help you cool down. That's what you have to do in that situation. You know ?”

“Oh … yeah, right, it is … of course ...” Keith was blushing a bit more, embarassed he thought of anything else. He blamed his dizzy mind.

“Sooo ?” Lance said to fill the awkward silence that was beginning to settle between them.

“Right, my armor and clothes ...” Keith realized, starting to strip down.

“Um, maybe the armor will be enough ? ...” Lance asked, cursing himself for making this awkward.

“I uh … maybe ?” Keith said though he didn't agree, taking off his plastron.

Once he was done, he only had the black suit left on. He was still feeling hot, but the absence of the heaviest part of the armor was already making him feel better.

Lance went on his way to find some water, but not before making sure Keith wouldn't fall asleep and assuring him he would be back soon.

He walked for a while, marking his way by aiming his blaster and shootong it on some specific rocks, so that he would be able to find his way back and return to Keith later on.

He was starting to get frustrated at the lack of water, and feared he was going to end up like Keith sooner or later. He tried his best to stay in the shadows, stopping in the holes in between, but the heat was catching up to him and his mind.

He half-hoped the others weren't far away from them and were too looking for water. Maybe they would be able to gather and wait for their lions to activate, or for Coran and Allura to find them.

Being alone in this unknown place made him kinda paranoid, and he wished Keith were still there. At that same moment, he heard a swishing sound and turned around, bayard in hand, ready to shoot.

He could make out a tail disappearing under the rocks, and he bacame even more alert of his surroundings after that. He hadn't thought about the possible creatures living there, and wondered if they could be dangerous.

He continued on walking, and as he was entering an even rockier terrain he thought he imagined the water-like sound he heard. Upon closer inspection, it seemed the holes there were a lot bigger than the previous ones. He followed the sound and went inside one of them, taking a few steps in and letting his eyes adjust to the dim lighting of the cave.

He almost cried in joy when he saw that he was right in front of a lake. It wasn't much to look at, but it was big enough that someone could go in.

He carefully approached the lake, and threw a rock in it, before he put his finger in the liquid it contained. Neither had dissolved, so he figured that if it wasn't water, it at least wasn't a strong acid.

He went closer to the surface of the liquid. It looked like water, smelled -or rather, didn't smell- like water, but he still wasn't sure.

Gathering up his courage, he took a sip of the liquid.

It tasted like water. He still had his doubts, but if he didn't bring some to Keith he could die, and so could he, so he quickly made his decision.

He drank some of it, and basked in the sensation it brought him. His mind was clearer now, and the temperature inside the cave was still hot, but not as extreme as the one outside. He contemplated staying there for a while, but remembered Keith was waiting for him.

He took his helmet and filled it with water, and exited the cave. He was thanking himself for marking the rocks as he had no idea where he had come from, as everything looked the same around there.

By the time he made it to the area where he had left Keith, one of the twin suns was starting to go down in the sky.

He was approaching the hole, carefully holding his helmet, from which some of the water had evaporated, when he heard some sort of rustling coming from their temporary shelter.

He put the helmet on the ground and materialized his blaster, running to the hole, and yelped when a lizard-like creature flew out of it. He looked inside and saw that Keith was glaring at the creature, sword in hand, wearing only his shorts, and sweating profusely. He calmed down when he saw Lance and fell to the ground, exhausted.

Te blue paladin rushed back to take his helmet and went to Keith's side.

“Here. I found water. I think.” He told him.

Keith didn't hesitate like Lance had and took the helmet in his hands, gulping down the liquid. When he was done he let himself fall on his back.

“Thanks.” He whispered.

“You're welcome.” Lance said back, before looking at the black suit that had been thrown across the small cave. “Sooo … you really couldn't handle the heat.” He added, again grateful for the fact the heat could make his blush practically unnoticeable.

Keith was confused, but followed his stare and realized what he meant.

“Oh, yeah. I really couldn't. Even now. I feel like ripping off my skin.” He said, glaring at it before his stare stopped on traces of blood. “Crud.”

“What ?” Lance asked, turning around.

“That thing bit me ...” Keith explained, groaning and falling back down, breathing heavily.

“... Think you can walk ?” Lance asked him.

“Why ?”

“I found a lake in a rather cool cave. Bigger than this hole. That's where the water comes from.” Lance explained.

“That's enough to motivate me to walk, at least.” He said, trying to get up and failing to stay completely stable. “Don't know if my body agrees though ...”

Lance gathered the pieces of armor Keith had taken off, as well as the black suit. He put his own helmet on Keith's head, as it was still wet inside, and the red paladin hissed at the weird sensation, before composing himself again, turning his head away as Lance was laughing.

He took Keith's helmet and put it on his own head, and went to his teammate, offering to help him stand for the walk to the cave. Keith accepted, an arm around Lance's neck, and they started to make their way to their destination.

When they arrived, the sun that had been going down was now at the horizon, but the temperature didn't go down still.

They both went inside the cave and immediately took off their helmets and sat down, cooling off. Both of them were sweating from the heat yet again, but Keith was the most exhausted, and he was scratching his skin around the wound the creature had caused.

Once Lance felt a bit better, he grabbed Keith by the arm and tried to throw him into the water. Keith didn't let him, and punched him in the gut.

“Hey ! What-what was that for ?!” Lance coughed out.

“You-you know I don't like to be in the water !” Keith exclaimed.

“Come on … there's barely any water. It's like a bathtub or something ! Don't tell me you're scared of going into bathtubs ? … That would explain some things though ...” Lance pondered, before Keith tried to pounce on him.

Lance avoided that attempt, yelping a bit, but that resulted in Keith falling in the small lake.

The red paladin made desperate arm movements and was looking terrified, splashing Lance, who brought his hand to Keith's shoulders, calming him a little.

“Keith. You're not drowning. You're even only halfway in the water.” He said in a reassuring tone.

Keith looked around, and blushed a bit when he realized that Lance was right. He took a deep breath and managed to completely calm down.

“Geez, you can go into disgusting stomach acid without batting an eye, but you can't go into tiny puddles of water like this one ?” Lance said, scratching his head.

“We were on a mission, and I had my armor and helmet on !” Keith said, annoyed.

“Alright, alright. I'll stop being a jerk.”

And he did. He went to the side, letting Keith relax in the water, while he took his own armor off, feeling better once he did. He turned around to check on Keith and caught him staring. The red paladin turned around quickly, trying to hide his blush. Lance was confused by his behavior, but decided on letting that slide and put the pieces of his armor next to Keith's, in an ordered fashion. After a while, Keith turned around to face him.

“Um … Lance ?” He asked carefully.

The blue paladin had been laying on the ground, trying to make out various shapes in the roof of the cave, and turned his head to look at him.

“Yes ?”

“Aren't you hot too ? ...”

“Yes, I am pretty hot.” He said winking at Keith, who groaned and turned around again in response, though he couldn't help the fond smile that came on his face.

“I know that, I meant, do you want to ...” He hesitated, before looking back at Lance who had an apparent blush on his face, and looked a bit shocked.

“What is it ?” Keith asked, a little confused and worried.

“Nothing it's just … what you said ...” Lance tried to say.

“Uh ?”

“Nevermind ...” Lance quickly said, making a dismissing gesture.

Keith gave him a look, but quickly shrugged. Lance went back to his previous occupation, as a distraction, and an awkward silence fell between the both of them.

Keith decided to break it up by trying to ask his question again.

“So, I wanted to ask you if you ...” He paused, wondering if saying what he wanted to say would be a good idea, but his mouth seemed to work faster than his brain did. “... could come with me ?”

“Where ?” Lance asked, not really understanding what Keith wanted.

“In the … in the water ? ...” Keith asked, retracting his body further into the small lake.

Lance went silent, and the red paladin was afraid he had crossed a line. He was about to dismiss his offer as a joke, but Lance was looking at him with a blush that could very well have been induced by the heat, and a determined and somewhat giddy expression on his face. He took off the black suit and joined Keith in the water.

It felt awkward at first, Keith internally cursing himself for asking such a stupid thing, but after some time they got used to it and were able to relax, and even played in the water, splashing each other, laughing.

“Hey Keith.” The blue paladin said at one point in the fight.

“What ?” Keith asked him, almost giggling.

“We're bonding.” Lance pointed out in a teasing tone, emphasising the last word.

The only reply he got was a particularly big splash to the face and a muttered “Yes, we are, and you'd better remember it this time.”

They were finally at peace and feeling well, and as the other sun went down to the horizon the temperatures dropped a little. The two of them had gotten out of the water by then, and were wearing their black suits again.

Keith pondered wether or not the temperature would go down even more, and Lance jokingly offered they could cuddle for warmth if it did, though that idea was dismissed by Keith, who in reality wouldn't have minded that at all and even smiled at the thought.

Though they weren't cuddling, they were sitting really close. Keith was letting his head fall on Lance's shoulders from time to time, looking a his teammate for any kind of reaction on his part. But Lance didn't react, at least not negatively, so he kept on doing it.

They were close to falling asleep next to each other when one of their helmets, Keith's one, started making radio-like sounds.

The red paladin tried to go pick it up through the darkness of the cave, and once he reached it he tried to get in contact with whatever was making the noise.

It turned out the twin suns had been interfering with their communication links, and now that it was night time they could communicate with their other teammates.

As it was, the others also were on the rocky part of the desert, and were following Lance's blast marks on the rocks. Both Lance and Keith put their armor back on, and after some time they all met up with the others, and they hugged, relieved to find they were all alive and well.

They made plans to stay in the cave for the night, but as they were preparing their improvised camp, they heard mechanical sounds outside of the cave. They went out and smiled as they saw that the source of the noises were none other than their lions.

Red purred as Keith sat inside, and so did the other lions, to some degrees. Shiro instructed everyone to follow his lead, and they made it back to the castle, where Allura and Coran were waiting, worried about their state. Coran took both Pidge and Lance in a bone crushing hug, and Keith witnessed it and decided to make himself as small and discreet as possible, but Coran saw him nonetheless. However, it wasn't to crush him by his hugs, even though he still gave him a light one, but to treat his wound, as Lance had mentioned it. Keith let him do his thing. This wound was itching him like crazy at that moment anyway.

Tired of their day, the paladins then decided to go to their respective rooms, leaving Shiro and Allura to discuss about what could have hit them at the start of the day, as Coran was reading various reports from the ship's structure and internal stability.

On their way to the bedrooms, Hunk and Pidge separated from Lance and Keith, and they were left on their own again. They hadn't talked much after they reunited with the others, so the blue paladin started a conversation.

“What a weird day that has been, uh ?”

“Yeah.” Keith laughed a bit. “ I could've died.”

“I … didn't mean it in this way, but … that's valid too, I guess.” Lance said, scratching the back of his head.

“Oh, you meant the other things ? ...” Keith realized, blushing for what felt like the umpteenth time that day.

“Yeah ...” Lance said sheepishly.

They feel into another awkward silence, but as they reached Keith's room, the red paladin didn't go in.

“What's wrong ? You don't want to sleep ? You know, if you go training after what happened to you today, I'll have to tell Shiro this time.” Lance warned him.

“No, no I do want to sleep for once it's just ...” Keith said, taking Lance's wrist in his hand. “I … wouldn't mind some company ...”

After that, Keith immediately retracted his hand away from Lance's wrist and turned his head around before he looked at the ground, which was suddenly extremely interesting to him. He blamed himself for not being able to keep his mouth shut and being so impulsive. Lance was going to think he was weird, or worse.

“Well ...” Lance started, trying to think of what to do and what to say, while Keith was actually being impressed by all the small details Alteans had put into the floorings of the castle. “I wouldn't mind either. Still up for cuddles ?”

Keith looked at him like he had just told him he too was half-alien. His mouth was agape, and he was at loss for words.

Lance put his hand under Keith's chin and made him shut his mouth, and the gesture made the red paladin get out of his trance and blush slightly.

“So ?” Lance asked again.

“Yeah.” Keith smiled. “ Still up for cuddles.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Man, fluff is hard to write.
> 
> Thanks for reading, have a nice day !
> 
>  
> 
> (Also this was started as we were in the heart of a heat wave. I thought I was dying.)


End file.
